


When Eyes Met

by Aithilin



Series: NyxNoct Week 2020 [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: First Meetings, Fluff, Gen, M/M, NyxNoct Week 2020, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:42:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26661628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aithilin/pseuds/Aithilin
Summary: Nyx hadn't known what to expect when he joined up with the Glaive, but a connection with Lucian royalty was never on the list.
Relationships: Noctis Lucis Caelum & Nyx Ulric, Noctis Lucis Caelum/Nyx Ulric
Series: NyxNoct Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1939900
Comments: 16
Kudos: 56
Collections: NyxNoct Week 2020





	When Eyes Met

Nyx was twenty-two when he was first led through the gaping maw of the Citadel. He remembered the awkwardness of the situation, the weight of the new uniforms, the strange sense of limbo that came as they were led in groups of five or six to the dull lobby before the throne room. He remembered looking out the yawning arch of the windows in awe, the ceiling and floor dropping away with his stomach as he looked over the stretch of endless city that he was about to swear his life to. He remembered Libertus at his side, unimpressed with the view and muttering as much as they waited for their orders to fall in line with far more recruits than Nyx would ever see again. 

He was twenty-two and fresh from the warzone beyond the shimmering Wall that encased the city. He remembered a horizon filled with the chocking ash and orange haze of Nif-started fires raging through his home. He remembered kneeling in the ashes of his home and life while Nif troops took scope of the violence, and no alarms being raised as he left that shattered life in Libertus’ beat up old ranch truck. He remembered the truck being confiscated at a checkpoint, and the hard road ahead as he kept his friends in line. He remembered quenching his exhausted thirst in rivers at the border, trying to clean up enough to look presentable to the Lucian contacts waiting for them. 

And it had all led to this moment. This oath that was coming back in pieces and words, but seemed determined to slip away. It culminated in the heavy uniform over his shoulders and the stiffness of his limbs exhausted from training; stomach still rolling from either the newfound skill of warping, or from the nerves of standing before the King, Nyx couldn’t tell. 

When the order was barked through the hall over the quiet murmur of the gathered Kingsglaives, the world snapped back into focus. The cacophony of boots lasted a moment before military silence fell over everyone gathered. Straight backs, shoulders stiff, eyes forward, the Captain inspected them with his usual indiscernible expression. For that long moment before the great doors were opened, the only sound in the room was Drautos’ own steps through their line. 

Then they moved as one. 

Nyx had met the King before. Without the grand rooms and formalities. He had been showing off his newfound skills at an inspection, pleased to see the approval in the King’s eyes. They had shared words, a greeting; the King had given him tips to manage the strange pull and push of the warp. 

But even he was intimidated by the cavernous room that homed the King of Lucis’ seat of power. 

The tall arched ceiling seemed to disappear, but Nyx could feel the phantom pulse of the borrowed magics funnelled through the dark stone. The pillars conducted that living power down, dispersed it through the building, focused it on the mad seated well above the rest on his dais. 

He remembered how all attention was on the King on his throne, the bulk of his Shield by his side. He remembered the way their practised steps seemed to fill the air, but never quite deafened the room. Nyx remembered moving in careful time, his world narrowed to the training for this parade despite the eyes on the from the gallery and the throne. He heard every faltered step and scuffed mark that seemed to announce to the Lucian nobility before them that they weren’t soldiers by nature. They came from farms and shops, quiet villages and resort towns on Galahd’s rocky coasts; Tredd was once a dock worker, and Luche had been on his way to law school before the Occupation. None of them had more than the past thirty days of training in the ancient arts of the Lucian royal magics. 

And he remembered the way the ranks parted as they fell into position as drilled. The way the foot of the dais was revealed, and Nyx saw the wide, curious eyes of the Crown Prince for the first time. 

The Prince had been flanked by two older boys, both in cadet uniforms though only one seemed comfortable in the outfit. 

Nyx remembered thinking that the kid looked scared. He supposed, at the time, he couldn’t blame him for that. The noise, the parade, the marching soldiers… Nyx remembered what it could look like from that perspective, even if he had the bravery of a few years on the kid. 

The words of the oath they were there to swear echoed in the chamber under the approving eyes of the King, but Nyx watched the kid— the Prince— as the boy seemed to shy away from the uniforms and noise. As the King spoke over them, reaffirming his acceptance of their oaths, Nyx smiled to the young Prince when their eyes met again.

He remembered smiling, because Noctis never let him forget it. 

“Wipe that smile off your face, hero.”

Nyx wondered where the shy little kid had disappeared to sometimes. Because the Prince rolling to his feet in the dirt of the training yards definitely had none of the fear in his eyes from that first meeting nearly ten years ago. 

“Make me, Highness,” Nyx wanted to laugh at the scowl that greeted his answer. He heard the murmur of disapproval from the newest recruits watching the match in the shade of the balcony and halls, he saw at a glance the exasperated roll of his Captain’s eyes as they sniped each other between the crash of their training blades. 

Now, Nyx knew, would be when Noctis took a moment to gather his thoughts. He would plan, and watch Nyx’s careful steps. He would move the way he had been trained for years and try to think the way the far too serious young man waiting in the shade with the Captain had told him. Nyx knew this dance better than any other Glaive still left from that first parade through the throne room. 

So it took him off guard when the training dagger struck his chest a second before the Prince did. 

With his full weight, Noctis toppled him. Crashing back to the dust and hard ground, Nyx barely managed to keep from being dazed by the unexpected contact. Noctis pinned him; knee on his stomach, training dagger recovered and at his throat, and Nyx looked up in confusion at the smile that greeted him. 

Noctis was haloed by the afternoon sun gleaming off the cloud of fine dust that rose around them. The triumphant grin a sharp contrast to the gentle nature he was used to seeing in the Citadel halls and city streets. A sharper contrast still to the ruthless press of knee to his belly and the firm touch of cold, dulled steel at his throat. 

“Made you,” Noctis said before the dust settled, leaning down quickly before pulling away from his victory. “You owe me dinner.” 

Nyx groaned as he pulled himself up, wanting to fire back that the break in habit was cheating somehow rather than development. He wanted to snipe at the Prince, smile and tease him for thinking like a Glaive in a tight spot like that. But there was no way to do more than smile without giving something away. There was no way to answer Noctis without letting something slip from between them and out into the glaring afternoon sun. 

Instead, he grinned and recovered his own training dagger as Noctis stepped back to his starting position. Lifting the false weapon, he pointed it straight at the Prince; “Best two out of three.”

“That was three,” called the Captain from his vantage point. 

“Best three out of five then,” Nyx amended as Noctis nodded, matching the confident grin. 

He would owe Noctis dinner anyway, they both knew that.


End file.
